M M

Guess what?

Last weekend I picked up this slammin' parts car.

Beneath the rough spots it is actually a decent car with minimal rust, and it has a full black interior including leather. So most of that including the carpet will be going into mine. I will be keeping my Mtech seats however.

Yesterday I started fitting my M5 replica front lip.

Test fit:

Paint:

On:

I also swapped the good fender from the parts car onto mine. It's actually in better condition than the last one was before the hit and the color matches close enough for now. Nevermind the sagging bumper, I will be putting my new one on shortly too.

Started cleaning up some of the black interior parts from the parts car to go into mine:

I'm going to be fitting the non AC center console from the parts car, just need to make a panel to fit my radio and I'm going to incorporate a space for some gauges while I'm at it:

Also this arrived today:

After a very long and tiresome search, I should have a single mass flywheel in the next couple days. So with any luck, the car will be going again by next week. Then I can cruise around and show off all my nice new parts.

Don't be this guy!

http://www.hotrod.com/news/1605-hot-rod-service-bulletin-no-one-is-impressed-by-your-cars-and-coffee-burnoutplease-quit-ruining-it-for-everyone/?sm_id=social_aumohotrodsshub_default_20160520_61823776&adbid=10153459871907540&adbpl=fb&adbpr=13601527539

Shouldn't that be a Mustang?

I find these tests you are doing with air pressure and resistance rather interesting. Will be following closely.

As a side note, I wonder how much difference glossy paint vs matte paint makes for this. We've probably all joked about it at some point but there must be a difference, however, probably immeasurably small.

If you have a place to put it that doesn't cost you then just work on it slowly. Don't get put off just because it might take time, just know what you are getting into.

While the car is not going I figured it would be a good time to replace the heater core and redo the foam flaps in the heater box.

Removed the heater box yesterday. Only took about 2 hours. Not sure why so many people make this out to be such a big deal. And I've never done it before on one of these.

There's nothing I hate more than messy wiring, so that's all getting tidied up too.

The inside of the heater box as it came out:

New foam flaps and heater core:

I put it all back together and back in the car this morning. No photo as I'm sure most of you know what a complete interior looks like.

I've also removed the AC part of the heater box and sealed up the AC flap. Because who needs that? Just slows you down. All the rest of the AC system has already been removed. Look at the size of the thing:

but fear that it will be a huge hole for every spare cent I have.

This is pretty much guaranteed with anything you do with a car. Welcome to the forum.

Shot's fired.

Will be there.

Today I made good use of nothing to do and pulled the gearbox off to see what disaster awaited me. What I came upon wasn't pleasant. Those with weak stomachs dare not read on.

This is what fell out as I separated the gearbox from the block:

The remains in the bellhousing:

Then I went back under the car to have a look at the pressure plate and remove that behemoth of an assembly. This is what awaited:

I was not expecting that, and can't say I've seen that before. It must have been one hell of a party in there (which I funded by the way).

The total sum of the destruction:

Luckily no damage was done to any other parts so I can just put on the new flywheel and clutch kit and hopefully carry on with skids.

I don't like to end on a down note, so here is a stance picture:

Phwoar.

http://jalopnik.com/5713816/how-an-aussie-forum-war-ended-in-a-police-visit

 

http://www.performanceforums.com/forums/showthread.php?67261882-Powerchip-are-a-bunch-of-cunts

I spent pretty much all day reading that. So funny. Thank you for posting.

So I believe the throw out bearing seized, then probably collapsed, this causing no clutch at all when the pedal is pressed. Still engages if you put the car in gear with the engine off. So it looks like gearbox will be coming off, a bit annoying after just finishing the work but it's partially my fault for not doing the clutch while it was all out. I was trying to save some money!

I'm now in the process of finding a single mass flywheel and clutch kit. Picked up a flywheel yesterday but it turns out that one is not ideal as it's essentially a remake of a dual mass in single mass form, if that makes sense. I have been offered another apparently standard one so I hope to get that this weekend. No one here has any clutch kits for this anywhere, cheapest I have found is a LUK on ebay which will be around $550 including delivery and import tax. Includes spigot bearing and throw out bearing so not too bad.Ironic really as the one time I wanted to actually buy something locally, no one can help.

Might pull the gearbox off next week since the car is just sitting now anyway.

Unfortunately, something in the clutch system just failed on me. Went for a short drive to pick something up, halfway home, no clutch. Won't get a chance to investigate until the weekend probably.

Been fiddling with the e28 over the last few days to try and sort out the little things.

Firstly trying to sort the idle and TPS. Thinking that the TPS may not be working, I took the one from my eta motor and swapped that on. Didn't test drive it and went straight to the meet on Sunday, then to a friend's after. The car didn't feel quite right and then after driving for a bit when I hit WOT it would cut out completely. Then it just started randomly cutting out. Turns out that the ETA TPS actually reads the opposite way, so when I was hitting WOT it would register idle and obviously cut out. Then I did some retesting and it seems that the original TPS does infact register idle, it's just that the stopper on the throttle body was adjusted to the max (to compensate for the ICV), that even with the TPS adjusted all the way, it wouldn't click to idle mode. Anyway, that one is back in now and car runs much better, but I still suspect that it doesn't register WOT, due to the fact that one, it get no ohm reading between the two pins, and when driving it doesn't quite feel like it.

Secondly I discovered that the issue is not actually the ICV itself (thanks to Ben for testing it) but that all the pins are getting positive power. I don't imagine this is meant to be happening so there may be a wiring issue. Investigations to follow.

Another issue that just came up last night after driving a bit is the clutch pedal started to get vibrations. Then, coincidentally after I gave a friend to test drive it, a terribly loud squealing noise started coming from the clutch area. It only happens when the clutch is being depressed. But now the vibrations seem to be gone. I suspect this is the throwout bearing. And I can't blame my friend, I was with him in the car and he didn't do anything I wouldn't have. Haha.

Also, today I went from a hot air intake to a warm air intake. I will find a better solution later but it's better than before.

Now, for some memorable moments from the swap:

Ben wasn't a big fan of my radiator fan. Hahaha ha. Ha.

Some late night shenanigans.

I've been finishing off the last few jobs over the last couple of days. Most of the wiring is now tidied up. The electric fan is wired in and I got it working on the factory radiator switch.

It's still not quite as tidy as I'd like but it will do for now. I also have a few small issues to sort. One being that the car doesn't really idle. It keeps dying if you let off the gas when coming to a stop and when I unplug the ICV, nothing changes. I think when it was in the e34, the throttle cable was just adjusted to not return the throttle fully, keeping it idling. I have also done this for now as a temporary solution until I figure out what's going on. I also have my suspicions that the TPS is not working. I get no readings on any of the pins at any point, so might swap it out for my one on the Eta which was new.

My other issue is 2 days ago the car wouldn't start without being jump started by another car. I charged the battery and my jumper pack but it only worked for the first 2 starts and then didn't again, and my jumper pack can't jump it either. I have a feeling my ground for the battery isn't good enough, will investigate this tonight. It kind of renders the car useless if I need another to go along with me everywhere, hahaha.

First start video:

She's back on the road.

Had a few small issues today while getting it going. The rear calipers that I put on from the e34 were actually seized so I had to swap the e28 ones back on. While not a big deal, it's something I want to get sorted so will look for other e34 ones later. Might be luck to get some vented ones.

Other than that, everything was pretty straight forward. I had to make a temporary bracket for the accelerator cable as the e34 sleeve is not quite right so didn't reach with the factory mount. So I will try to find a cable that does work.

Next jobs will be tidying up the wiring and finishing that off and wiring the fan in. Also need to install my new cluster. Also going to order a new heater core and redo flaps as I currently get no hot air. Does anyone know if they are RHD and LHD specific? Can't find any information on this.

Overall I am very happy with it, goes so much better then the eta ever dreamed of. It has a slight miss and a bit of a bog on take off, I think this motor needs a proper service such as new plugs etc. But even with this it goes very well. And does mean as burnouts.

And that concludes this weeks episode: How to do an M30 swap in 2 weeks (and a day if you want to be picky).

Up next: Conclusion is an illusion; nothing's ever 100% finished. Also might have a special live appearance from Highway Patrol.

They grow up so fast.

Got the car started today. My friend has the first start video so will post when I have that off him.

All that's left to do is:

Bleed clutch and brakes

Hook up one final coolant hose I forgot to do

Wire in electric fan

I'm planning to drive it home tomorrow, will try get some videos of it driving.

I apologise for the lack of updates over the last few days, I've been busy working on the car. It is now all physically back together, drivetrain, exhaust, brakes, engine etc all done. All coolant hoses etc are hooked up. I have also relocated the battery to the trunk using e36 parts.

Tonight and over the weekend I will be doing the last few small jobs and doing the wiring. The plan to have it driving by the end of the weekend looks very realistic. More to come soon.

the price of a left handed bit is quite a bit more than a standard one, but... if you have a lot of potential stuck bolts its handy

Cool, will definitely keep it in mind should this happen again (which I very much hope it doesn't, but no doubt will).

I just do not even understand why..........

oh yeah welcome to school holidays

If it wasn't some kids, probably because it would go unnoticed when committing a crime.

Sorry to hear about that.

All I have to say about last night is this:

Yeah, that was me.

 

 

Found the pics, but I didn't have one with the jumpers installed *doh*

Will have a look for the cluster at home as it is out of the car at the moment.

Oh, haha. Thanks man.

get a hammer an punch and give the broken drill a dammed good wack

 

its hard steel so should smash it. if it doesnt, get a new colbolt drill bit (infact get a couple of them and start out with a very small one) and drill it out. extra points if you use a left hand one because it might loosen the broken one and the stud while you drill it.

 

i removed a snapped off stud with a snapped off stud extractor inside it with the use of a good drill and a new colbolt bit

That's exactly what I did and now it's out. But the left hand thing is a good idea, that I didn't think of.

Might pay to note that the E34 trailing arms didn't work because of your early E28 subframe...

 

Will dig out a pic for you of how I bypassed the SI Board on my E30, same dysfunctional leaking battery issue, and kept the gauges all running.

(presuming the same era will use the same / similar SI board)

Yeah I found out about the subframe from some guys on Bimmersport. Sort of wish I knew that eariler but you live and learn and all that.

Yeah please show me about the cluster. I just pulled the batteries out and hoped it would work (I read somewhere that it should).

I like where this is going. That would've been my plan for an E21, m50 or m52.

Oh man, I feel for ya! Not much more frustrating than stuck bolts (and stuck broken drill bits)

You might have to make some sort of bush fixture to align the drillbit over the hole. Such a pain.

Yeah, I've got a plan. We shall see tonight. I will either have an update saying the motor is back in or a complete disaster.

is the bolt in to steel or alloy. 

 

It may be safer to take it in to a engine reco and get them to spark erode the drill and bolt out. Yes it will cost but it will mean you will still have a usable head afterwards.

It's in alloy. I don't really fancy pulling the head off and having to get all the new gaskets etc. Will see how my revival plan goes and if that fails then I might have to. Either that or go with a v8 instead.